Wichita eagle., 1887-01-02

formation relative TO her end that we can
only say that the Lutheran pastor who pre-
pared her for death found her at first prey
to despair, still earnestly protesting her in
nocerce, retracting her confession, which
she declared was extortod from her sorely
By the Unendurable agonies to which she
was subjected on the rack. After q while,
howe Tcr, the poor creature became moro
composed, listened to his exhortations with
meeknesG and submitted herself to the pros
pect OF death in resignation to tbs viii Of
God. The pastor was himself convinced
of her guilt, and did his utmost to induce
her to admit the justice OF her sentence,
bat TO this he could not bring her Sho
would confess again il laid on the rack, but
never oe it. Sho forgave her enemies,
though she did not know who they could
be: nevertheless, she was sure she had one
Or more, or elce, as she contsudod, how
could the 0ucat have come i2to hcC pocket,
She was hanged ia the presence Of a great
crowd, in the Bruder strasee, opposite II.
door Of the house where tie thefe bad BEEN
conraitted-bsfors the eyes Of Lasapcrt.
who had been robbed; Of his wife. who had
vainiy endesvored to save her; and Of tho
daughter, who had boen with her daily
when the unhappy girl cleaned the room
where tie money box was.
The poor giIi lad not been long dead BE-
fore somehow a feeling arose among the
people of Berlin that, after all, in szs;ts Of
the evidence against her, in spite Of her
own confession, Marie Keller was suiltless,
and that it was judicial murder that had
been committed.
The evidence was discussed. and IT'S weak
ness was ssen. The counsel for the prise
ner, the examining judge, the legal faculty
of Frankfort, the court, the public gen
orally, had missed seeisS one little feature
in the case which, when caught sight Of,
completely altered its complexion
Why was it that the mistress Of poor
Marie had offered her mother She money to
refund LaInpert his loss? Wes the offer
made out of charity! 1t VIII bs remem-
bered that when Frau kellsr narrated this
to the examining judge he put the story
aside as a lie, and did not ask another
question relative to it. Nevertheless, after
Marie's execution the old woman persisted
in her story and as she did so people asksd
Why did Frau Lampert urge the money On
the woman and try to induce her to confess
that her daughter was guilty?
The robbery in the Bruder strcsse, in
stead Of being forgotten after Marie had
been banged and buried, seemed as if it
would not ba laid at rest. It continued to
be discussed; parties formed; Gonna accused
Frau Lampert, others the daughter, others
again said that Ianpcrs had made q mis-
calculation when counting his money, and
had written wrong sum On the ticket. Ho
ho1 haa-, ,,chI,,1 J. boI Loot
he had deceived himself This latter epin-
ion slowly made its way and prevailed over
the others. 1t was The only really satisfao-
tory explanation OF tho mystery, end it
was one eIninently simple 1t was in vain
for Lanpert to protest that ho could not
have been deceived; few believed him
That Marie was innocent everyone con-
Guided and that crime had been committed
wss universally admitted, and Narie's death
was spoken OF as the murder in ths Bru-
der strasse"-when--ono evening as Lam
per- came in from his tavern where he
drank beer with a few boon companions,
as he opened his house door, he saw sons-
thing that made him start back and utter q
cry of horror. Before him was his wife's
body, hanging from a crool, in the ceiling.
Almost before he had recovered himself,
and had the courage to cut her down, tho
examining magistrate and G policeman ar
rived. Tho former had received letter
from Nine. Lampert, in which che con-
fessed that Marie had died innocent, and
that she had surreptitiously taken the money
while assisting her husband in counting it.
As she counted sho had slipped som. Of the
coins up her sleeve. he was goias; on the
morrow to Leipsic, and she had ben given
a sum of noney only adequate to meet the
ordinary household expenses. This had
annoyed and disappointed her. II her hus-
band went 70 Leipsic 10 would enjoy him
self there, go 30 tie thSater, drink wines,
dine well; while she WIS drudsing ss home.
The temptation took her to p,Tloin few
pieces Of money wherewith she hoped to
give herself and her daughter conls arnuss-
nent during her husbands absence Ho
had at once discovered the loss, and, afraid
of his temper, she had not dared to corress
what she had done, but had slipped one OF
the ducats into the servant girls pocket.
Afterward, when n .rie was in prison and
under invest tiCation, she had been too fright
ened TO confess the truth, lest she should
have been imprisoned in the place OF Marie,
and have been sentenced to the gallows
Thus sho had seen tho unfortunate and
guiltless victim OF her crime die under her
eyes, and she had been ever since haunted
by tho sight and tortured by tho sting Of
her conscience.
This letter she sent TO the examining
Judge by servant, and ct one. proceeded
to hang herseif close to the doorway oppo-
site which Marie had been banged When
she was cut down she was quite dead For
many years after tho people CT Berlin
pointed TO Lampert's house and spoke Of the
judicial murder in the Bruder stras5s. .
Belgravia.